As computing power continues to grow, many of today's users demand more concurrent functionality from their computing devices and the ability to consume large volumes of information simultaneously. In the existing paradigm of a windowing user interface environment (such as that provided by Microsoft's Windows®-brand operating system), a user typically opens several independent pane interfaces concurrently on the screen. It is not uncommon, for example, for a user to run several programs (e.g., email program, browser, word processing program, spreadsheet program, document viewers, etc.) at the same time, or perhaps even multiple instances of multiple programs. The user opens each program into its own pane interface, and typically arranges the pane interfaces in layers atop each other. The user may then track which programs are open and switch among them by selecting the individual pane interfaces, or by choosing associated program icons in a control menu.
While this windowing user interface environment is effective and commonly understood, there may be situations where a user wishes to arrange content in a different manner on a screen.